Operation Blackcock

Operation Blackcock was an operation carried out by the British XII Corps against German forces situated in the "Roermond Triangle" between Roermond and Sittard in the Netherlands and Heinsberg in Germany from 14 to 27 January 1945. Gunther Blumentritt's XII SS Corps and a regiment of fallschirmjaegers defended the triangle from the British 2nd Army as it began to approach the Rhine River, and the muddy ground and heavy German resistance made the Roermond Triangle a difficult obstacle for the British Army. The British fought for ten days, and they managed to eradicate the German salient in the Roermond area after heavy fighting. 1,152 British troops and around 2,000 German troops were lost.